Portable electronic devices such as smartphones and tablets may be implemented through various materials. In recent years, tempered glass has been mainly used on the exterior of electronic devices, e.g., to form a glass cover over a display on the front surface of the device. Further, the rear surfaces as well as the front surfaces of devices have been increasingly finished through separate tempered glass.
Some conventional electronic devices prevent a glass cover from directly receiving an external impact by surrounding the glass cover with a housing that is thicker than the glass cover. Thus when viewed from the front of the device, the glass cover is recessed from a peripheral region of the housing. In this manner, if the device is dropped and the front surface hits the ground, impact usually occurs at the housing periphery rather than the glass.
Electronic devices with curved displays have been recently introduced in the marketplace. Also, electronic devices have been developed with an “expanded” display, in which a main display region is provided at a main front side of the device and an auxiliary display region is provided on left and right lateral sides of the device. As the display is expanded or curved, the glass cover that covers the display is also expanded or curved. Such electronic devices may be more vulnerable to an external impact than a flat type, and may be further vulnerable to an external impact due to a curved form between a flat area and a curved area.